Gearbox Publishing is Changing Its Name

09.04.2024 - 19:45 / gamerant.com / Lance Gose

Gearbox Publishing announced it is rebranding to Arc Games in the wake of its separation from parent company Gearbox Entertainment. Following Take-Two Interactive's purchase of the publisher's parent company and associated IPs, fans wondered how Gearbox Publishing might continue after it was left out of the sale by Embracer Group.

Gamers know Gearbox Entertainment for their work on the massively popular Borderlands franchise, the first-person action title that arguably defined the modern-day looter shooter genre. When Embracer confirmed plans to sell the company to Take-Two on March 27, it triggered speculation over how the transfer might affect Gearbox's production cycle. Fans were especially concerned since the $460 million deal left Gearbox Publishing — Gearbox Entertainment's publishing subsidiary — under the control of the Embracer Group, which was in the midst of a restructuring program that saw a wave of layoffs in several studios and the sale of most Saber Interactive assets to the newly founded Beacon Interactive.

Now, a full week after the confirmation of the transfer of its current parent company, Gearbox Publishing announced it was rebranding to Arc Games. This is notably the second time Arc Games has rebranded, with the publisher previously going by the name Perfect World Entertainment before it was purchased by the Embracer Group in 2021.

Arc Games assured fans that while the name of the company was changing, its team remained intact for the foreseeable future, and they were still eager to continue their work in publishing new titles. The news release additionally invited interested followers to tune in to the digital Triple-I Initiative showcase, where it planned to unveil a trailer for its next project, Heart Machine's Hyper Light Breaker.

While Arc Games might no longer be working on the Borderlands franchise, the company has garnered some success in IPs outside of those developed by Gearbox Software. Most notably, it funded the development of Gunfire Games' critically acclaimed Remnant 2, a first-person shooter that was praised for melding soulsborne and roguelike elements into its gameplay. Arc Games also recently released Gigantic: Rampage Edition, a 5 versus 5 hero shooter published in partnership with video game developer Abstraction Games.

With mass layoffs hitting studios all across the industry and controversy after controversy making headlines, the tumultuous business of video game development seems like it's been trapped in a chaotic storm for the past few years. Only time will tell whether the formerly named Gearbox Publishing can thrive in the industry without relying on the prestige of Gearbox Entertainment or an established franchise like Borderlands.